Cheetah Oban, brought from Namibia, enters MP village, efforts underway to bring it back to Kuno National Park

Cheetah Oban, brought from Namibia, entered Jhar Baroda village in Madhya Pradesh's Vijaypur, which is 20 kms away from Kuno National Park on Sunday. The DFO added that efforts are underway to bring the cheetah back to the Kuno National Park. Visuals of the cheetah in bushes in the village were shared by locals.

One of the cheetahs from Namibia that was taken to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park and released there last month was spotted in Jhar Baroda village, 20 kilometres from the park. According to the District Forest Officer (DFO), “Cheetah Oban, one of the cheetahs brought from Namibia, entered Jhar Baroda village, of Vijaypur, which is 20 kms away from Kuno National Park. A monitoring team has also reached the village. Efforts are underway to bring the cheetah back.”

70 years after its extinction from India, the cheetahs are back on Indian soil. On September 17, 2022, eight cheetahs—five females and three males—were translocated from Namibia to India as part of the bold Modi government's Cheetah reintroduction plan.

The names of the female cheetahs are Siyaya, Aasha, Tbilisi, Sasha, and Savannah, while the names of the male cheetahs are Freddie, Elton, and Oban.

Sasha, a cheetah from Namibia, passed away last week from renal disease. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF-Wildlife) JS Chauhan stated that Sasha's renal condition, which she had been dealing with prior to her transfer from Namibia, was the cause of her death.

Two days later, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced that one of the cheetahs at Kuno National Park had given birth to four pups. On February 18 of this year, 12 more cheetahs were transported into Kuno in the Sheopur region from South Africa.

India was home to Asiatic cheetahs in the past, but the species was declared extinct domestically by 1952.